1 field or more?Just a question to you proffesional GG members
by Luis Marquez · in Jobs · 11/01/2002 (8:33 pm) · 5 replies
Whats up? Just a question to you professional GG members: (an easy question really) Should I go and educate myself in different fields of the industry or further develop my current skills? (personally I chose choice #1) I just want to see what you pros think. I'm only 15 but I'm considered by my fellow companions to have already surpassed my level of skill in my field, (Writer: Storyline, Plot, etc.) I have neaver failed Language Arts or English and am somewhat of a perfectionist.
About the author
#2
As a programmer I've decided to specialize instead of generalize. The reason for this is that I've found that an expert can churn out ten times the productivity that an amateur can. This is due not only to initial production speed, but also quality which reduces the number of fixes required.
11/02/2002 (4:24 am)
Luis,As a programmer I've decided to specialize instead of generalize. The reason for this is that I've found that an expert can churn out ten times the productivity that an amateur can. This is due not only to initial production speed, but also quality which reduces the number of fixes required.
#3
11/03/2002 (3:01 pm)
Hey, have you guys heard of Full Sail? You know "For Real World Entertainment? Well I've decided at this age that right when I get out of high school (graduating wise) I'm headed down south to Winter Park, Florida to take the courses on Game Design and Development, all of them I am dedicated to master all of these skils. That what I meant when I said 1 field or more.
#4
11/03/2002 (3:39 pm)
I think you greatly underestimate the experience and dedication required for mastery.
#5
If you want to be a game designer, being good at english and arts probably won't be enough to get you a job initialy. All the game designers that I know are both competent programmers, and artists as well as being good communicators. They have to understand every aspect of a games machanics, both gameplay wise and technicaly. They need to be able to know the engine well enough that they can work closely with the programmers and artists, understand the problems as they arise and be capable of helping finding solutions to these problems.
Most of the game designers I have worked with might not be engine programmers, but they have been involved in all aspects of developent and understood the game as a whole, not just the story, and the gameplay mechanics. thats part of the reason a good game designer makes so much money, where as programmers often make less than they would in other industries that require the same basic skills often at a lower competence level.
04/24/2003 (4:49 pm)
As the hardware and games become more complex, developers are becoming more and more specialized and jobs less stable. Often a developer will get hired for a particular project and n completion the team is chopped down to a core group of about 4 people to work on the next, so 2/3 of the team may find themselves looking for work again. It's pretty normal unless you get to work for a very high profile small developer, or a very large corporation that has multiple projects going.If you want to be a game designer, being good at english and arts probably won't be enough to get you a job initialy. All the game designers that I know are both competent programmers, and artists as well as being good communicators. They have to understand every aspect of a games machanics, both gameplay wise and technicaly. They need to be able to know the engine well enough that they can work closely with the programmers and artists, understand the problems as they arise and be capable of helping finding solutions to these problems.
Most of the game designers I have worked with might not be engine programmers, but they have been involved in all aspects of developent and understood the game as a whole, not just the story, and the gameplay mechanics. thats part of the reason a good game designer makes so much money, where as programmers often make less than they would in other industries that require the same basic skills often at a lower competence level.
Torque Owner James \"Corvidae\" Williams
It really depends on how in-depth you want to get in the other fields. Knowing a bit about how they work, being able to tailor your field's work to assist them with theirs, etc. can be a Very Good Thing (right now, I'm doing more modelling work getting premade art into our game than I am coding, for example), but you don't want to risk spreading yourself TOO thin, as you'll be a jack of all trades, but master of none. Pick one field and make that your primary goal, but if you need something else done (art, for example), take the time and learn how to do at least a rudimentary job at it instead of immediately looking for someone to help you with it.